ARC Trooper Echo - TVC - Basic (VC176)

In typical Hasbro fashion, they’re slowly releasing each ARC Trooper from 2020’s TVC 501st Legion ARC Troopers (Echo/Fives/Jesse) Special Action Figure Set. They’re needed characters in The Vintage Collection, but their addition to the line is either exciting or indifferent, depending upon your point of view. The clamoring for these characters has died down a bit, and it seems as if most of us are preoccupied with new characters getting added to the line instead of getting repacks. Still, the 501st Legion ARC Troopers (Echo/Fives/Jesse) Special Action Figure Set is particularly rare and goes for a lot of money on the aftermarket. So perhaps the release of ARC Trooper Echo isn’t one of the worst things Hasbro’s done for The Vintage Collection. After years of “nothing” for toys from The Clone Wars in The Vintage Collection, Hasbro is beginning to see the need for them. And the response from collectors has been overwhelming. Although The Clone Wars started before the takeover, Disney grandfathered the series into the canon, and we got a seventh final season out of it. It makes sense that we continue to see new action figures based on these characters in The Vintage Collection lineup. Overall, most TVC collectors will want to add ARC Trooper Echo to their collections, but they will also want more clones from The Clone Wars added. The figure comes with four weapons, a removable pauldron, and a removable helmet with an articulated rangefinder. That’s a lot of accessories for a 3.75-inch action figure.

ARC Trooper Echo has exquisite card art. Hasbro ensured they translated the character’s likeness into realistic style, and collectors will love what Hasbro did with it here. The Season 3 episode of The Clone Wars entitled “The Citadel” made its debut a long time ago, but we’re now just getting ARC Trooper Echo as the character appeared in 3.75-inch super-articulated status on a single card, nearly a decade after the episode first aired. We’re not entirely sold on this figure, but there should be enough excellence presented here to make The Vintage Collection collectors happy. Multiple things will probably make them feel dissatisfied as well. ARC Trooper Echo is a straight repack of the figure from the 501st Legion ARC Troopers (Echo/Fives/Jesse} Special Action Figure Set, which was a “convention” exclusive for 2020, and now collectors have the chance to buy multiples of this character as needed for their collections. The tooling is all-new, and collectors should count themselves fortunate. Once again, ARC Trooper Fives looks stunning in the packaging. The figure’s new parts show us how far Hasbro has come with action figure design, and the features and proportions are gorgeous here. However, after all of these years, Hasbro still has trouble properly sizing the Phase II bucket, and the helmet on ARC Trooper Echo looks a tad too big. It’s not as bad as the earlier Phase II Clone Troopers in The Vintage Collection, but a sizing issue still exists. Unlike ARC Trooper Fives, at least collectors knew this figure was coming. Fives got released without a formal announcement.

Like the other ARC Troopers, we prefer ARC Trooper Echo with the helmet removed. The figure has more personality without the helmet on its head. The Photo Real deco looks incredible, and Hasbro colored the other parts of the figure beautifully. You’ll also find a lot of blue and gray paint throughout ARC Trooper Echo’s armor. You’ll find a couple of spots of poorly applied paint, but mostly Hasbro did a fine job painting this figure exceptionally well. The gauntlets have some extra detail, and they look beautiful too. We’re particularly fond of how Hasbro paid attention to the many differences between the 501st ARC Troopers, and they translated everything beautifully here. There is still a debate on whether Hasbro scaled this ARC Trooper Echo body slightly smaller than other Clone Troopers in The Vintage Collection. We notice a somewhat diminutive stature, but nothing that’s overly noticeable or something we feel is emergent to remedy. But like the others, where ARC Trooper Echo fails is with the articulation. It’s not because Hasbro didn’t give this figure a wealth of premium articulation, because they did. ARC Trooper Echo has an impressive 28 points of articulation, most of which are upscaled ball-jointed movement. The issue is that the molded belt/holster/kama combination piece, which is gorgeous, by the way, inhibits the movement of the ball-jointed hips, swivel thighs, and knees. But thanks to the “rocker” ankles, collectors will find ARC Trooper Echo offers more flexibility than other action figures with the exact encumbrance.